There was an upset in the baseball Group A preliminary round at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
China, which avenged a 2-17 five-inning cold-game loss to Japan at the Jakarta-Palembang Games five years ago, won its Group A preliminary game against Japan 1-0 on Wednesday (Feb. 3). South Korea will face Japan in the first Super Round matchup on June 6.
China opened the scoring in the second inning when Liang Fei singled to left field with the bases loaded and held a 1-0 lead until the ninth inning. Japan had runners on first and second with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but failed to score.
As a result, China (3-0) and Japan (2-1) advanced to the Super Round as Group A’s first and second place finishers. South Korea, who finished second in Group B, will play Japan in the first game of the Super Round on May 5 and will face China on May 6.
If Korea defeats both Japan and China and Taiwan defeats China on Friday, they will meet again in the final.
South Korea was swept 0-4 by Chinese Taipei on the second day. They were held scoreless until the sixth inning against Taiwanese starter Lin Yi-min. She scattered six hits, but none of them turned into runs. Yoon Dong-hee struggled with three hits and Choi Ji-hoon with two, but key hitters such as Kim Hye-sung (0-for-4), Noh Si-hwan (1-for-3) and Kang Baek-ho (0-for-4) failed to deliver. 스포츠토토
Manager Ryu Jung-il said, “We lost, so there’s nothing to say. “We did a lot of research (on the Taiwanese pitchers), but what we saw on the video was very different from what we saw in real life. The ball was fast and their changeup and control were both good.”
Ryu acknowledged the improvement, saying that Taiwan is not the same team it used to be. “It’s a lot different from a few years ago. The pitchers have studied a lot in the minor leagues, and the hitters used to get a lot of false swings on the changeup, but today they weren’t fooled by the changeup. The defense was weak in the past, but today it was solid.”
Coach Ryu Jung-il also said, “We lost today, but we might have a chance next time. I’ll be happy to see them again.”